Deans and Notables - John M. Kelly Library: 100 Years of Women’s Education at St. Michael’s College: 1911-2011

Leading by Example

IN 1911 — A TIME WHEN WOMEN AND LEADERSHIP WERE STILL RARELY HEARD IN THE SAME SENTENCE — the Loretto Sisters and the Sisters of St. Joseph began their work to advance the cause of women at St. Michael’s. As Deans and as professors, they served as key role models for future generations of women and offered an important voice in shaping the college as a place where women and men could pursue the same academic goals. Here are some of those groundbreaking women.

Deans and Notables: Loretto College

Mother Agatha O’Neill

When Mother Agatha O’Neill entered the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1866, she had already attended the Toronto Normal School and graduated with a first-class certificate. Thus, when the Institute assumed responsibility for a school in Lindsay, Ont., where young women would be prepared to write the examinations of the provincial Department of Education, she was chosen to teach there as one of the nuns professionally qualified. As a result of her experience in Lindsay, she was determined to bring this standard of education to all the Loretto Academies. When she was given the responsibility of overseeing the educational preparation of the members of the Institute, she strongly promoted the higher education of the Sisters in order to obtain the required qualifications and certification for teaching at every level. She is fondly remembered in the community for her stance in this regard.

Mother Agatha was one of the first promoters of University Federation and was actively engaged in the community’s struggle to establish a college for Catholic women at the University of Toronto. She contributed to negotiations with the university and St. Michael’s College, which were finally successful when in 1911 an agreement was concluded between St. Michael’s and the two Catholic women’s schools in Toronto, Loretto Abbey and St. Joseph’s Academy. Female students could finally be enrolled in a Catholic college in the University of Toronto.

See Mother Agatha O’Neill’s profile in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography

Deans at Loretto College

Sr. Estelle Nolan

Dean: 1913-1932

Sr. Margarita O’Connor

Dean: 1913-1932

Mother St. Margaret Kelly

Dean: 1932-1937
1932-1945; 1947-1949

Mother Mary Aloysius Kerr

Dean: 1945-1947

Mother Boniface Hopkins

Dean: 1949-1955

Mother Angela (Marjorie) McKeown

Dean: 1955-1959

Mother Mary Bernadette Culnan

Dean: 1959-1965

Mother St. Philomena Cassin

Dean: 1965-1967

Sr. Maria Lanthier

Dean: 1967-1971

Sr. Caroline Dawson

Dean: 1971-1975

Sr. Diane Bridges

Dean: 1975-1981

Sr. Mary Frances Jordan

Dean: 1981-1982

Sr. Lenore Sullivan

Dean: 1982-1983

Sr. Johanna D’Agostino

Dean: 1983-1986

Sr. Cate McBurney

Dean: 1986-1989

Sr. Kathleen Heffron

Dean: 1989-1992

Mary Hardie

Dean: 1992-1997

Laurelle LaVert

Dean: 1997-2001

Sr. Mary DiGirolamo

Dean: 2001-2004

Angela Convertini

Dean: 2004-2017

Emily VanBerkum

Dean: 2017-present

Faculty at Loretto College

Mother Estelle Nolan

1912-1914; 1919-1937

Mother Margarita O’Connor

1912-1932

Mother Lucilla Breen

1912-1918

Mother Athanasia Quinlivan

1912-1931

Mother Gertrude Gumpricht

1912-1930

Mother Dorothea Barry

1914-1930

Mother St. Clare McEachen

1914-1922

Mother St. Margaret Kelly

1932-1937

Mother Berchmans Doyle

1926-1941

Sr. St. Stanislaus McCardle, M.A.

1935-1962

Sr. St. Ivan McQuade, M.A.

1932-1947

Sr. Mary Aloysius Kerr, Ph.D.

1945-1947

Sr. St. Magdalen (Loretto) McIntyre, M.A.

1938-1971

Sr. Marcia Smyth, Ph.D.

1941-1955

Sr. Olga Warne, Ph.D.

1941-1968

Sr. Marion Norman, Ph.D.

1940-1968

Sr. St. Francis Nims, M.A.

1941-1983

Sr. Stella Marie (Esther Hanley), Ph.D.

1956-1957; 1959-1973;
St. Michael’s Library 1975-1994

Sr. Mary Madigan, Ph.D.

1972-1982; 1985-1988

Catherine Grisé

Deans and Notables at St. Joseph’s College

Mother Irene Conroy, CSJ

Elizabeth Conroy was born in Dundas, Ontario and received her early education from the Sisters of St. Joseph in Thorold. She became a resident student at St. Joseph’s Academy in Toronto where she completed high school and qualified to teach. Following her graduation, Elizabeth entered the novitiate in 1887 and received her religious name, Sister Irene in 1888. Following her novitiate Sister Irene taught in several Toronto Catholic elementary schools before being placed in charge of St. Joseph’s Academy in 1902. In 1905 Mother Irene was appointed Superior (and Administrator) of St. Michael’s Hospital. There she won the admiration and respect of many outstanding members of the medical profession. During her term of office, she arranged for the hospital’s affiliation with the University of Toronto’s School of Medicine, with the establishment of clinics and courses and examinations by which the medical staff became lecturers and mentors for future doctors. St. Michael’s was well on the way to becoming one of the finest university teaching hospitals in the country.

Three years later, in 1908, Mother Irene was elected Superior General of the Congregation and entered on a whirlwind of construction and innovation which occupied her energies for the next six years. Through her efforts St. Joseph’s College for women was established in 1911 and affiliated with St. Michael’s College. Sisters were encouraged to obtain university degrees to improve their qualifications in the educational field. In 1914 her second three-year term ended and Sister Irene returned to teaching for a time and then served in hospital administration.

In 1926 Mother Irene was again elected to the General Council and during her term she was instrumental in negotiating the purchase of the Christie Mansion at 29 Queen’s Park Crescent for a residence and lecture rooms for St. Joseph’s College. She also supervised the building of new wings at St. Joseph’s Hospital and St. Michael’s Hospital as well as an addition to the Nurses Residence and a new Mercy Hospital for Incurables on Sackville Street of which she later became Superior in 1933. In 1938 she was again elected to General Council even as she celebrated her golden jubilee in community. She died in office on March 10, 1944.